Jesse Spector (Sporting News national NHL writer): I was not planning to go to the Rangers-Penguins game tonight, but then New York traded Marian Gaborik, and that was what I was writing my big column for the day about anyway, so I headed to Madison Square Garden.

Now, the Penguins are missing Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang, but they still had beaten the Rangers seven straight times. Here was a Rangers team that had just traded a superstar, and was getting Derick Brassard and John Moore into the lineup fresh off a plane, and really, maybe I should have seen it coming.

Of course the Rangers scored a season-high six goals, with Tuesday acquisition Ryane Clowe netting a pair after scoring zero all season with San Jose. Sure, why not? And then there was Brassard with a goal and three assists, and Moore—another guy without a goal all season, banging home a 55-foot slap shot to finish the 6-1 rout.

Guess the Penguins should have gotten Jussi Jokinen on a plane after trading for him in the afternoon.

Sean Gentille (Sporting News senior NHL editor): Sometimes, recent first-round picks get traded, and lots of times, it turns out poorly for the team on the receiving end. The Washington Capitals—their fans, at bare minimum—are hoping precedent holds for Filip Forsberg, whom they sent to the Nashville Predators for veteran winger Martin Erat and AHL forward Michael Latta.

Yes, the attrition rate on traded first-rounders is high. No, the Capitals, with their Ovechkin-Green-Backstrom core, don't have much of an option other than "win now." Yes, Erat should help in the short term, and he's better than his 2013 numbers suggest. No, Forsberg hasn't been great since he slid to Washington at No. 11 last June.

But this move has a certain … feel to it. Ask Montreal Canadiens fans about Ryan McDonagh; they'll swear at you—and maybe in two languages. That's the most recent example of traded first-rounders bucking the trend. Maybe Forsberg follows suit, maybe he doesn't.

If he plays up to his potential—an impact, physical first-line forward—and Erat doesn't help the Capitals win some meaningful games, we're guaranteed to hear about this one for a while. And if you're bored, check out comment sections and message boards at Cap-centric sites. They've gotten a head start.

Jonathan Willis (managing editor, The Nation Network): The seventh-round draft pick may not fetch much at the draft, but it was seemingly the currency of choice on Wednesday. Four different NHL veterans—combining for 3,525 games and nearly 2,000 points—were shipped off in exchange for either a seventh-round selection or a conditional seventh-round selection. Those players—Scott Hannan, Jussi Jokinen, Wade Redden and Steve Sullivan—all have more games behind them than ahead, but with talent late in the draft so unreliable, a guarantee means at least something.

Sullivan might be the only one who really appreciates the value of the depth pick going the other way. New Jersey quietly added him from Phoenix in exchange for their seventh-rounder, but it was the Devils who originally drafted Sullivan with a ninth(!)-round pick back in 1994. Sullivan was involved in a trade deadline deal then, too, departing for Toronto as part of a package that saw the Devils land Doug Gilmour.

Sullivan’s having a low-scoring season but still pushes the puck in the right direction; his on-ice shooting and save percentage are low, but the Coyotes did a good job of out-shooting their opponents with him on the ice. At worst, Sullivan’s an inexpensive addition that won’t hurt the club; at best, he can add a little offensive depth on the lowest-scoring team currently in playoff position in the East.

Cam Charron (managing editor, Leafs Nation): I was impressed by what the San Jose Sharks accomplished. They traded away Douglas Murray for early picks, then acquired Murray's clone, Scott Hannan, for later picks. It took serious guts to clear their roster of big-name, yet inefficient, players like Michal Handzus and Ryane Clowe.

The Columbus Blue Jackets also put together some pieces to take a run this season, which feels odd to say. They probably got the best guy dealt on deadline day in Marian Gaborik. Gaborik has just nine goals this season, but that's on 8-percent shooting—a career low. He'll probably score at a much higher rate between now and the end of next season than he has so far in 2013. Since Gaborik has one year left on a deal, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen isn't taking on a lot of risk. He also somehow managed to get a warm, human body for Steve Mason.

An interesting move I liked for both teams was Ben Bishop for Cory Conacher. Steve Yzerman has tried to find a goaltender with low-cost acquisitions and Bishop is the latest example. Conacher has 24 points this season as a rookie, but he's 23 years old, which puts him close to his scoring peak. He's a good fit for the Senators, who need offensive talent for the remainder of the season. The Bolts get a "maybe-backup-maybe-starter" for a player who could be a second-liner in the NHL for the next three or four years.

Finally, if there's anything to learn from the Roberto Luongo saga in Vancouver ... don't sign goaltenders to superlong-term deals. That 12-year contract will turn out to be a very expensive mistake.

Thomas Drance (managing editor, Canucks Army): The biggest story of the deadline, from a Canadian perspective at least, was Vancouver's inability to move Luongo.

In talks with Toronto, the Canucks reportedly lowered their asking price several times in the final hour, to the point where they were asking for Ben Scrivens, a player who would've probably been lost on waivers had Dave Nonis managed to find his veteran goaltender, and a couple of draft picks. Still, the Maple Leafs said no.

It's obviously a whole new era of caution in the NHL. Just ask Jokinen, who cleared waivers only to be traded a week later when Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford agreed to pay part of his salary.

In Luongo, whose deal is expensive and lasts for most of another decade, you at least get what you pay for. Luongo has posted a .928 even-strength save percentage (EVSVP) over the past five seasons while facing nearly 7,000 shots—a testament to his workload and durability. But he's untradeable.

Bishop, who's 26, netted the Senators a mid-round pick and Conacher. His EVSP during his NHL career, which, granted, only factors in a tick over 700 shots faced: .914.

That's only slightly better than the numbers posted by Steve Mason, whose acquisition by the Philadelphia Flyers was the day's best punchline. Mason's EVSP for his career sits at .913—one of the worst rates for a regular NHL starter over the past five seasons—but he still netted the Blue Jackets a third-round pick and a replacement level goalie in Michael Leighton.

The third goaltender traded was Matt Hackett. Hackett performed well in a handful of games at the NHL level, but he's a career .914 goalie in the AHL. Despite that, he was a major part of the deal that pried Jason Pominville out of Buffalo.

The one thing those three have in common—beyond being tradable, which Luongo apparently isn't: contracts that will expire after this season, after which they'll be restricted free agents. It appears that type of financial flexibility was more valuable at the marketplace today than was reliably elite, albeit expensive, goaltending.